That was a good bit of information. If you have ever tried to get cash from a Japanese ATM with a US debit card, you will learn the meaning of frustration. Unlike the US, Japanese restaurants are kind of hit and miss regarding whether they accept credit cards.

No, but there are Denny’s! My host when I was in Japan told me that they are basically “American theme restaurants” – places where you eat American-style with knife and fork and eat pizza, spaghetti, steak, and American breakfast food, and are where you go with kids for a fun meal.

Lawson’s Dairy had a plant in Akron, OH. The stores started as milk product outlets, then rapidly expanded into convenience stores. They were mostly an Ohio/ Michigan thing, but the two where I grew up disappeared shortly after I left for college; one is now a realtor’s office, the other was a 7-11 for a while, and I think is now a lawnmower sales venue.

Yet another of many examples of things that the Japanese do better than we do in the West. My God, I miss their 7-11’s. I recently did a 10-day vacation in Japan, hitting Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Tokyo, spending only around $1600 (including airfare!) because of places like this.

I was staying in a hostel in Kyoto around the time of the Republican primaries. In one of our late-night common room conversations with a group of people from around the world I said, “a lot of us WANT Trump to get the nomination, because it will be easier for Clinton to beat him than to beat Cruz.” I’m horrified at the thought that they might remember me for this.

I would like to visit these places, but then I wonder if people will realize I’m American and blame me for 45 and the shitstorm we have.

You could do what I did when I went to the UK during Bush: put a Canadian flag patch on my backpack and told people I was from Ontario (or Nova Scotia when in Scotland, which will get you a lot of free drinks in pubs).

Easily! In my experience, folks outside of N. America don’t see any difference between a generic American accent and a Canadian accent. And Canadians are “the nice guys” to pretty much the whole world. Pretending I was from Nova Scotia also prevented me from getting curb stomped in a pub in Edinburgh once; a drunk football yob saw my Canadian flag patch and said “Oi! I thought you was a dirty English. I was gonna kick yer arse with me mates. But I’m gonna buy you a pint for bein’ a Noova Scootcha.”